A court refused two appeals Monday, clearing the way for Britain to begin implementing the controversial plan to process and resettle people who crossed the English Channel to get to England.
The British government planned to proceed on Tuesday with flying immigrants to Rwanda for processing and resettlement, after a court blocked two appeals to the contentious plan on Monday, according to Care4Calais, one of the aid groups involved in the appeal.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government announced in April that it would send some asylum seekers to Rwanda for an initial payment of 120 million pounds, or about $157 million.
The ruling Monday, which was decided by a three-judge panel on the appeals court, came after the High Court failed to pass an injunction against the proposed plan last week.
Lord Justice Rabinder Singh of the Court of Appeal said in a statement that “applications for interim relief in this context must be considered on an individual basis and not a generic basis,” in other words, case by case.
Care4Calais said that 23 people who were scheduled to leave on the first flight Tuesday have had their tickets canceled. After the ruling, eight passengers were still scheduled to leave, but based on how quickly the passenger list had slimmed over the past week, aid workers were hopeful that the remaining deportations could be reversed in the 24 hours before the flight’s departure.
“Each of the remaining individuals can make their own appeal, which is encouraging,” said Clare Moseley, one of the founders of Care4Calais. “Three of the passengers were removed from the list last night — we have all day tomorrow to resolve these remaining cases,” she said, adding that her group is helping five of the eight on the list.
The previous 23 refugees were removed from the flight for various reasons including claims that they had been victims of torture or trafficking, or had severe medical conditions, Ms. Moseley said. Four of the asylum seekers she is working to help remain in the country also say they are survivors of torture.
The appeals on Monday represented the first legal challenges to the controversial policy, which will resettle and process thousands of migrants who have crossed into Britain via the English Channel after often perilous journeys from countries like Albania, Iraq, Syria and Sudan. The policy would apply to those who have arrived since January.
Priti Patel, Britain’s home secretary, who traveled to Rwanda in April for the plan’s announcement, said in a statement last week that “Rwanda is a safe country and has previously been recognized for providing a safe haven for refugees.”
Yolande Makolo, the spokeswoman for the Rwandan government, said in a statement: “Rwanda has been preparing for these flights to start and are ready to welcome all those who come to Rwanda under this innovative new program. Rwanda will ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect and afforded the opportunity to make a life here if they choose to do so.”
The appeal to stop Tuesday’s flight was brought by The Public and Commercial Services Union and two groups, Care4Calais and Detention Action, that have helped asylum seekers, many of whom arrived in the country by small boats or other irregular modes of transport.
A second challenge to the policy was brought forward by Asylum Aid, another British aid group helping refugees.
The hard-line policy aligns Mr. Johnson’s immigration stance more closely with one of his predominant arguments for Brexit, which he pledged would enable Britain to “take back control” of its borders.
Aid groups supporting asylum seekers have criticized the plan, emphasizing that it has deepened the uncertainty for people who were already in precarious situations. And international rights experts and groups representing asylum seekers say that the measures would violate Britain’s commitment to the U.N.’s 1951 Refugee Convention, which requires that asylum seekers not be forcibly sent to unsafe areas.
The United Nations refugee agency has also denounced the policy. “People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy,” said the agency’s assistant high commissioner for protection, Gillian Triggs, in a statement in April. “They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.”
In 2021, over 28,500 people arrived in Britain in small boats crossing the English Channel, up from 8,466 in 2020, according to data published by Britain’s Home Office in an annual report.
The decision from the London court comes as Rwanda prepares to host the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in the capital, Kigali, starting next week. The biannual meeting, which was delayed for two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, will bring together leaders and government officials from the association’s 54 member states, with Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, in attendance.
Rights groups and civil society organizations have said that President Paul Kagame’s government was using the event to project soft power and to market his country on the global stage even as he brooks no dissent at home.
On Monday, Human Rights Watch said that Rwandan authorities had beaten jailed journalists and were holding privileged material from their lawyers. The detainees were part of a wave of journalists, opposition members and YouTube commentators who were arrested after criticizing security forces and speaking about political repression.
“Rwanda is not a safe country,” Lewis Mudge, the Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in an interview. In Rwanda, he said, government critics were “risking their lives to speak out about their treatment, but the international community, and particularly the U.K. and the Commonwealth, is choosing to turn a blind eye instead of standing by their values.” He added, “It’s unconscionable for the U.K. to press ahead with this plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.”
Critics of the deportation agreement have said that Rwanda does not hold much regard for the safety of refugees — pointing to how Rwandan security forces were accused of shooting at least 12 Congolese refugees in 2018. Mr. Kagame’s government also has a track record of threatening and targeting dissidents abroad, including abducting and trying the hotelier-turned-dissident Paul Rusesabagina, whose story was made into the movie “Hotel Rwanda,” and who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in Kigali.
“It is inhumane for the U.K. government that stands up for human rights to send refugee seekers back to an environment similar to the one they are fleeing,” Anaïse Kanimba, the daughter of Mr. Rusesabagina, said in an emailed statement.